The Salon was founded in 2005 by Seattle writer Ariel Meadow Stallings. After hearing about her friend Sarah’s Cringe event in Brooklyn, Ariel thought to herself, “Why doesn’t Seattle have something cool like that? Stupid New York gets all the cool shit.” After a few weeks of moping, she decided it was high time Seattle had something cool of its own.

A mutual friend got Ariel in touch with Jeannie and Phyllis, the folks behind A Guide To Visitors, Seattle’s longstanding storytelling series. They decided it was a good idea to team up and make the Salon of Shame a reality.

In August of 2005, a “proto-salon” was held in Ariel’s basement. Ten friends gathered to read diaries to each other and see just how awful it was… and instead of being awful, it was hilarious! The first Salon of Shame took place in Belltown’s Jewelbox Theater on November 8th, 2005.

That first show was a raging success! The second show in January 2006 was even better! But then came the third one, in March, with 8 audience members and only 2 readers.

Admission was sheepishly returned, tears were shed into pillows, and we went back to the drawing board. It was right around this time that the Henchman (later Producer) of Shame, Ben Haley (later Yelahneb), joined us to help out behind the scenes.

Evidently, we’re still overcompensating for that 8 person show, because every Salon of Shame since has sold out.

With the help of some Deaf friends, we added American Sign Language interpretation to the Salon, which turned out to be a huge hit with both deaf AND hearing audiences. You really haven’t lived until you’ve seen adolescent blowjob tips translated into sign language.

In mid-2007 we said farewell to our beloved Jewelbox and their delicious yam fries, and moved the show to the Capitol Hill Arts Center, doubling our seats from 60 to 120!

This still wasn’t good enough for some people, and The Stranger started a petition in an attempt to convince us to move to a larger space (don’t miss the comment section of the post).

They finally got their wish in 2008 – after CHAC closed down, we found a new home in the International District at Theatre Off Jackson, which seats 150. This was also when another Ariel (van Spronsen) joined us to help navigate the transition to paper ticketing and smoother, more consistent door policies. Said Ariel Stallings, the morning after that first ToJ show: “…the smoothest-running, logistically easiest Salon we’ve ever had… we did sell out, but the door never got crazy!”

In 2010, we celebrated our 5th anniversary by moving from the downstairs theater-in-the-round to the cozier, chiller upstairs (aka “The Canoe Club”). Everyone liked that! Sofas, in-room bar, tables… ahhh. Also: cake.

Ariel Stallings officially handed over the production reins to Yelahneb in 2013 in order to focus on the mighty Offbeat Empire, while Ariel van Spronsen retired from the Salon in 2014 to explore points East. In 2015, we started having “extra” shows at Cornish Playhouse, playing to crowds of 300+ and giving more folks a chance to get in on the shame.

In 2016, we began offering season passes to accommodate our hardcore fans.  In 2017, longtime reader Rhoda Zopfi served as our House Manager for a time. The long-promised shirts materialized that year, followed by a second design in 2018.

2019 was a big year: the Salon of Shame went national with new chapters in Columbus, New Orleans, Jacksonville and Philadelphia, each one founded by Seattle expats!

In 2020, the COVID-19 pandemic forced us to take the Salon into cyberspace – we had our first online show via Zoom in April, and a second a month later.

The May 2020 show “Shame Across America” raised money for orgs in the five Cities of Shame who were struggling to stay afloat.

We took a depressing 2-year hiatus while the pandemic raged until we finally returned to the stage for our 98th show in August 2022, with the proceeds donated to Shout Your Abortion. Before year’s end, our beloved Ariel van Spronsen came out of retirement to manage the house once more!

We held our one hundredth show in January of 2023, with a raffle to support Theatre Off Jackson. In 2024, we did a *third* run of shirts, and something new: BUMPERSTICKERS!

How on earth are we still doing this 19 years and 100+ shows later? Because of you, of course, dear reader. We love you!